What mastering Program to buy after mix is done?
 

Ok I dont know if this has been answered. But After your done and bounce the whole mix down to 2 track on pro tools, where do I go now for mastering?

PS> Im on a PC

Re: What mastering Program to buy after mix is done?
 

well, some go right back into protools with the stereo file and master in there. I personally use Sonic Foundry's SoundForge software (been using it for years, always rock stable for me). Some people also use WaveLab, which will also burn cd's, but I havent used it.

Re: What mastering Program to buy after mix is done?
 

Hmm, I am going to say that you probably won't be able to do a professional quality master at home. You have several limitations: Your room, your speakers, cabling, experience, D/A and A/D convertors, compressors, EQs, Limiters, Gates, etc...

No software program will do the same job that a professional mastering studio will do. If that's not your goal however, buy T-Racks for quick and dirty mastering.

No matter what Electronic Musician, and Keyboard Magazine want you to think, you can't really do good professional mastering, unless that's what your primary job is.

Re: What mastering Program to buy after mix is done?
 

on the Digi 001 is there mastering tools? I have looked at SOnic FOundry's software, but dont you need the CD Burning tool as well or is that included? Steinberg is cool. I just heard way too many problems with the software. Even though it is supposed to be a good software suite.

Re: What mastering Program to buy after mix is done?
 

And did you mix in the box? There has been much discussion about this on the TDM/HD forum lately. Very very few people mix in the box. I mean you can get good results, but taking it to a large studio and going through a large console will do you much better than mixing in the box. LE does have it up on TDM/HD because of our Mixbus being floating point, so that may have some positive effect. It still doesn't replace a good mix engineer and an SSL.

Re: What mastering Program to buy after mix is done?
 

WaveLab is good for mastering.

I am trying a new program though. Using it in Wavelab.

iZotope Ozone

Haven't figured it out yet.(having some other tech problems right now) But it is a specialty program just for mastering.

Re: What mastering Program to buy after mix is done?
 

For "light mastering" or "pre-mastering", which (as stated above) is the only successful type of home mastering typically achieved, I've also found Sound Forge to be great. It's a stand alone WAV editor so it can be used very easily in conjunction with Pro Tools for tweaking WAV files (including various plugin treatments) during the tracking and mixing stages of a project.

As far as burning CDs goes, I use EZ CD Creator, and have always had great results. Others use Nero, and seem satisfied with it as well.

Re: What mastering Program to buy after mix is done?
 

I personally think that trying to get " High End Studio Sound" out of only spending $2000 for everything is a crock of **** . Only cause if you could get that kind of sound, All the big studios would go out and buy the home crap we are discussing.

Im just a song writer for my band and want to beable to hear it clearly. So nothing elaborate then. So what is cheap and easy?

Re: What mastering Program to buy after mix is done?
 

I'd like to rant about something here. Obviously going out and spending a lot of money to have a project professionally mastered in an elaborate room with very expensive converters, compressors, eq's or taking your tracks to be mixed by a seasoned pro on a $100K SSL console is ideal, but not everyone has the money or connections to do so. Correct me if I'm mistaken, but isn't the whole point to a DAW especially like the PTLE platform to save money and get near pro results?

Brian

Re: What mastering Program to buy after mix is done?
 

I use Sound Forge 4 and 5. 4 is 16 bit only, but it supports the old CD Architect and that CAN work with XP if you're lucky and jump through enough hoops, while 5 is 24 bit but doesn' work with CD Architect. So I master in 5, dither and convert to 16 bit and then burn in 4.

The latest version is 6, and they've come out with a new version of CD Architect. I really like that program, but a lot of other people love Wavelab, which has CD layout and burning capabilities built in.